MHA brushes off Rahul's SPG remark

Rejecting Congress president Rahul Gandhi's claim about selection of Special Protection Group (SPG) officers, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday termed it "baseless, devoid of fact and unfortunate".

On September 22, Gandhi reportedly said that "the SPG chief appointed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to quit because he refused to accept a list of SPG officers handpicked by the RSS". He made the statement while interacting with college and Delhi University teachers in the national capital.

Reacting to Gandhi's remark, the ministry said that the matter has been verified and the officer in question has specifically averred that he did not have any such conversation with Gandhi at any point of time.

"The matter has been verified. The officer in question, Vivek Srivastava, former Director, Special Protection Group (SPG), has specifically averred that he did not have any such conversation with Shri Rahul Gandhi at any point of time. The officer has stated that as part of his professional duties he interacted with SPG protectees; however, he has categorically stated that during his interaction with Shri Gandhi, there was no talk whatsoever regarding the appointment of a new Director, or the reasons for his leaving SPG," the MHA stated.

The ministry further explained that the SPG is a professional organisation which takes its task of protecting serving Prime Ministers, former Prime Ministers and their families "very seriously and in the highest professional spirit".

"SPG is a professional organisation which takes its task of protecting serving Prime Ministers, former Prime Ministers and their families entrusted to its security, very seriously and in the highest professional spirit. The comment reportedly made by Shri Gandhi through the media is baseless, devoid of fact and unfortunate, coming from an SPG protectee," the ministry added.